Forged Destinies
by Anaklusmos14
Summary: Third Book of Destinies Series. A fall into the endless abyss. A journey never taken by the heroes of old. Percy Jackson and Zoë Nightshade embark on a quest to do the impossible. A race against time through the worst place in the mythical world. Can they reach the heart of Tartarus and close the Doors of Death or will Gaea win out and turn the mortal world to ash?
1. Teaser

Ch. 1

_Falling_.

That was the only thing on Zoë Nightshade's mind.

Well no. Actually, that would be a lie.

There were a million things on her mind. To start, her imminent death. Then there was the quest to close the Doors of Death and the war with the Giants and their mother the earth goddess. And her friends on the Argo II. But actually, the most prominent thing on her mind was Percy Jackson.

Her eyes stung from more than just the air whizzing by her as she fell into what seemed to be accurately deemed the endless abyss.

_Gods of Olympus that one demigod had changed her._

She had always taken great pride in her uncanny ability to not find any good qualities in the male species. They were liars, cheaters, abusers and just about the worst kind of monsters roaming the world.

And why not? She had seen firsthand the kind of atrocities men were capable of.

She had a good life, surrounded by a family of likeminded sisters and a mistress who cared for them as if they were her own children. Actually she had had a _great _life. And for thousands of years, she hadn't even thought a better one existed.

_Then she met Perseus Jackson_.

Damn that half-blood. Why did he have to be so different than not only any male she had ever met but really any person at all? In all seriousness, where did he come off breaking the mold for the male species? They were supposed to be the abusers, not the abused. They were the villains, not the heroes! And after having such a miserable childhood, what right did he have turning around and being so, ugh, perfect.

No! Boys with terrible childhoods are supposed to become monsters themselves when they grew up. They weren't supposed to be self-sacrificing heroes who turn the world of man-haters upside down!

She had seen many boys with terrible lives turn around and ruin the lives of others the moment they had the power and strength to do so. And she had had no problem with it. In fact, she preferred it. It fit her idea of men perfectly and for millennia, it worked.

Then she went to that damn wilderness school. She _would _have died and that would have been fine; death in service to her mistress, a fitting end for a huntress.

But nope. That stubborn child just _had _to throw himself off the side of a cliff and rescue her. And as if that weren't enough, he had to turn out to be a pretty down to earth guy! She had expected him to want to be showered in praise for his bravery. Instead, he had the nerve to only care about his siblings, standing up to the entire Olympian Council to protect them no less!

And don't even get her started on the quest to Mount Othrys; fighting a Titan, defying fate to save her life! Who does that?

She brought her hands to her face where the moisture of her long since blow away tears had been.

_Percy Jackson_ did that. The boy she loved. And who loved her, _unconditionally_. Holy Zeus she sometimes had a hard time understanding it. She was not exactly what you would call an easy girlfriend. Quick to anger, sometimes abusive and as stubborn as a person could be were a few ways to describe her. And yet, he loved her anyway. Like a lot.

_What chance did she really have?_

Brave, handsome, kind and just, he had had the girls of Camp Half-Blood drooling after the mysterious son of Hades. And yet to him, it was like they had been invisible. He had first been her friend. And seriously, like the best friend a girl could ask for. He gave her space but didn't let her turtle up in her cabin like she had wanted. Instead, he convinced his father to break the Ancient Laws _just_ to cheer her up.

She let out a scream in the endless darkness.

It wasn't a scream of fear. It was a scream of anguish, of what she was losing. He had turned down becoming a god to be with her and she goes and falls into Tartarus like an idiot! Well there goes her happy ending.

Well, to be honest, she had kind of already had one. Even with the ups and downs, losing Percy for months and finding him only to be sent of a perilous quest, it had been the best time of her life. Her time with him was more than she could have ever wanted. He just made her happy; happier than she had been as a hunter, happier than she had been as a Hesperide. It was undoubtedly the best part of her life, despite how brief it had been.

Her eyes widened as she saw the tunnel open up into a cavern. It glowed with a dim red light and the first thing she noticed was the noxious smell as it seared her nasal cavities.

Whatever kind of air was down here was certainly not meant for human consumption. An acidic sulfur smell consumed her senses and stung her eyes.

She turned her body around, trying to get a look at the spot where she would do her impersonation of a fly on the windshield.

_A river._

She could see the outline of a river below and wondered if she would land in it. She doubted her powers over water would protect her but she kind of hoped she wouldn't have to find out. A quick death was the best option at this point. Even if she did survive, it would only prolong her suffering before she inevitably fell to one of the horrors of Tartarus.

She took a deep breath as she entered the cavern and closed her eyes, preparing herself for death.

"_I'm sorry Percy."_ She whispered as she fresh tears stung her eyes.

Suddenly she felt her body snatched, wrapped up in strong, powerful arms.

"Oh no you don't." Percy whispered. "You don't get to get rid of me that easy. Not now, not ever!"

Before she could even comprehend what was happening, Percy let loose a feral sounding scream. The water beneath them erupted hitting them so hard that the last thing Zoë remembered was something grabbing her hand tightly before she lost herself to the darkness.

**A.N: This is just a teaser. I'm starting work on chapter one but wanted to get something up because, well, you guys PM a lot. But here it is, the start of the FINAL destinies book. **

**Thanks for all the support and prodding, it finally got me moving. You guys are awesome.**


	2. Let's Have a Drink

Ch. 2

The first sensation Zoë felt was the rough, jagged ground that was prodding into her back. Even with just the weight of her small body, the ground was digging into her skin painfully. She could also faintly hear the sounds of a struggle near her but her brain wasn't putting things together quite yet. She assumed this was some kind of weird dream, an all too familiar experience for her and most offspring of immortals.

"I FREAKING HATE SPIDERS!" A voice boomed from around her, finally shaking the daze from her mind. Her eyes shot open and she found Percy standing in front of a giant spider, Arachne. She tried to gnash at him with her fangs but was met with a foot to the forehead... _Do spiders have foreheads?_

She pushed that irrelevant question from her mind as Percy jumped back to avoid a web shot at him before diving forward, going into a baseball slide and stopping right under her unprotected underbelly.

He pulled the pen from his pocket as drove it straight into her stomach, eliciting an agonized wail from the giant arachnid.

"Time to die Charlotte!" He yelled as Anaklusmos suddenly sprang out of its pen form and into full badass celestial bronze monster killer mode while still imbedded in her underside. He slid out the other end, pulling the sword with him and cutting a three foot long gash in her stomach.

Arachne let out another wail of agony before her body dissolved into dust.

Percy wiped the monster blood and entrails from his blade and kicked her remains into river for good measure.

"Stay dead bitch."

Zoë had watched the fight in silence, too stunned to do or say anything. Part of her heart seemed to break at what she was seeing.

_Percy was in Tartarus… Because of her._

Another part of her wanted to cry out in happiness.

_Percy was in Tartarus… For her._

Apparently her face was having trouble making up its mind by the confused expression Percy had. He looked torn between running to comfort her and running for cover. He settled for option C.

"I really hate spiders."

His random and very _Percy_  
>like comment seemed to break her out of her stupor. She got to her feet and ran at him. He flinched involuntarily thinking she might smack him but she grabbed his face in her hands and crashed her lips onto his. He recovered and smiled into the kiss, clearly pleased with this outcome of her internal debate.<p>

"You're so stupid." She whispered as she broke away for a quick breath.

Percy put his hands on her hips and pulled her back. His face had a smile on it but it was strained.

"I couldn't let you have all the fun, could I?"

Zoë glared at him. She tried to be angry but just couldn't._ Honestly, how do you get mad at someone who just jumped into Tartarus for you?_

"What have you done Percy?" She pressed her head into his chest. She rarely felt so vulnerable and never showed it, even with Percy, but as she continued to breathe in the noxious air of Tartarus, she felt the indescribable urge to just give up; forgo the impossible task ahead of them and accept death.

Percy pushed her back off him. His multicolored eyes shone as he looked at her. She expected him to comfort her but instead he looked angry.

"Snap out of it Zoë," he warned. "We landed in the Cocytus. It's affecting your mind right now. You can't listen to it."

She hadn't really taken the time to take in her surroundings but noticed how close they were to the dark waters of the Cocytus. She could hear the whispers of tormented souls urging her to accept her fate and join them in their eternal suffering. For some reason, she couldn't tune them out. She felt her body going limp as the overwhelming urge to give up was consuming her. Their words seemed so right and their voices were like a soft melody in her ear, urging her body to just shut down and accept the inevitable.

She felt a sharp sting in her cheek that drowned out everything around her.

She put her hand on her cheek, her eyes wide in shock. Percy was looking at her with narrowed eyes. She expected him to be scared but he just looked furious.

"Cut the crap. Remember who you are." He said in a low, dangerous tone.

"You slapped me…" She couldn't believe that had just happened.

"You needed it." He said seriously. She looked at him in disbelief, all thoughts of just giving up gone. He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it gently as he looked into her dark eyes. "I promise you can beat me for the rest of my life to make up for that but right now, I need you to focus. We don't have a lot of time."

She looked at his face as saw the worry in his eyes. He turned his head and coughed violently, having trouble holding his balance until he recovered from his fit.

"We need to find the Phlegethon. If we don't, we'll be dead within the hour."

"But Percy," she tried to say but he grabbed her hand and turned them around, pulling her away from the Cocytus and towards a small barren plane littered with rocks, fires, and smoking funnels that poured more of the toxic fumes into the air.

Dark shadows could be seen flying overhead but they seemed to be ignoring them, for the moment at least.

Zoë felt herself coming out of the funk the Cocytus had left her in. Percy was still pulling her along but she was more helpful now as she walked on her own, keeping hold of his hand out of comfort now rather than necessity.

"Percy," she said more firmly this time. "Where are we going?"

He slowed his progress and turned to look at her and she got a good look at him for the first time. His face was white and covered with a thin layer of red tinted dust from the terrain of the pit.

"We need to find the Phlegethon. If we don't, we'll die down here."

"But why?" She asked stopping in her tracks and forcing him to look at her.

He stopped and ran a hand through his unruly dark hair, "Zoë, the air down here is toxic for mortals. We won't survive without help. The Phlegethon is what is fed to prisoners of the Fields of Punishment. It keeps them alive, er, well breathing when they would otherwise break down. It's the only real chance to survive down here."

He broke into a fit of coughing, blood trickled from the side of his mouth that he tried to hide but she saw it anyway.

She grabbed his hand and turned it over, looking at the blood he had tried to wipe away.

"Like I said," he wiped his hand on his pant leg and grabbed hers, "if we don't find the river soon, we won't last long."

Zoë bit her lip. She had done nothing but slow them down and she wasn't in nearly as bad a shape as him. She nodded for him to lead on opting not to say anything in fear of letting him know how worried she was.

They journey across what seemed like a small plane was agonizingly slow. Percy seemed to be moving with more and difficulty the further they went. His breathing was ragged and labored. Zoë could feel the effects as well but seemed to be weathering them better than him.

As they reached the far end, Percy dropped onto his knees. Zoë felt like doing the same. They were at the top of a large cliff, at least sixty feet to the bottom. At the bottom, a river of what looked like fire snaked its way through a ravine, another cliff on the other side.

"The Phlegethon," Percy weezed, pulling himself back to his feet.

"How will we get there?" Zoë asked dejectedly. She doubted she would be able to make it down and in the shape Percy was in, he would almost certainly fall to his death.

"We climb. It's the only way."

She looked at him worriedly. He noticed and straightened himself up, hawking up a wad of blood that blended perfectly with the crimson rock at their feet.

"Percy," she looked at him nervously. "What's wrong with you? You're getting worse and worse. I don't understand; I thought you'd be more adept to these kind of conditions."

He gave her a crimson stained smile, "The nectar is protecting you for the moment."

"What?"

His smile grew a little, "You were out cold. I had a small flask of nectar. I don't know how long it would have taken for you to wake up without it."

Her eyes went wide. "You used your nectar on me?"

He held up his hand to stop her, "Of course I did. Don't bother getting mad, it's over now. Once we get to the Phlegethon, I'll be alright."

She bit back a curse for him damn self-sacrificing nature.

"Do you have any left?" She asked knowing he wouldn't take it himself.

Before she could get a response, he got down on his hands and knees, backing himself to the edge of the cliff and shimmying himself down to a ledge below.

"Come on. This isn't going to get any easier." He prodded. She knew he was right but wasn't ready to end their discussion. When his head disappeared from sight, she followed his lead, grabbing hold of the ledge and making her way down, careful to have a firm grip as she moved.

Their progress was painfully slow. They stopped a handful of times for rest and on more than one occasion, rocks would come loose, nearly sending them plummeting to their deaths.

Zoë's hands were raw and began to bleed the further they went. The ledges seemed to have been designed to stop this very task; full of raised edges and sharp pieces of rock that cut her at almost every step of the way.

Around half way down, Percy stopped on a ledge that was just big enough for both of them to sit on. Neither of them spoke, using the time to catch their breaths and rest that weary muscles. Even in the best of conditions, scaling a cliff like this would have been a daunting task. Given where they were and their deteriorating bodies, it was all but impossible.

"So this is pretty special, eh?" Percy broke the silence, a trace of a sly smile on his lips. She looked at him, unsure if he was being dumb for losing his mind.

"What?"

"Come on," his smile grew a little. "How many guys can say they took their girlfriends to Tartarus? This is pretty much a once in a lifetime kind of date. Really, you should feel pretty lucky."

She stared at him, wondering how he could say something so ridiculous.

Then, her face cracked into a smile and a small laugh escaped her lips. She saw his eyes shine a little brighter in the dim light and her smile grew.

_Even sitting on a ledge in the middle of Tartarus, he could make her laugh._

She leaned her head on his shoulder and he slipped his arm around her, making her feel just a little bit safer despite their situation.

"Percy," she said softly. "We're not gonna make it out of this one, are we?"

He pulled her a little tighter and put his face in her hair. Even in the middle of this toxic wasteland, she smelled like the forest and put his mind at ease.

"I don't know," he whispered. "I honestly don't know."

They stayed like that for a few more minutes, both just drinking in the moment, a moment of peace where they could drown out everything around them and just focus on the fact that despite everything, they were together.

"I don't know what's going to happen down here Zoë, but I do know we've both been told we were supposed to be dead long ago." She picked her head up and met his eyes. "So far we've told gods, Titans and even the Fates that they can go shove their prophecies and destinies. We make our own and I don't have any plans to stop now."

She stared into his eyes for a moment longer before kissing him softly on the cheek.

He smiled at her, "First step to getting out of here is making it to the bottom of this cliff. The sooner we take the first step, the closer we are to our last." He grabbed her hands in his and closed his eyes. His hands felt abnormally warm and her eyes widened.

"Percy don't!"

He just held her hands tighter for a moment longer before letting them go. She glanced at her hands and found them mostly healed from the cuts and scrapes from the journey down so far.

"You're wasting energy." She chided but honestly was trying to hold in a relieved smile at how much better she felt with her healed hands.

He just shrugged, "Some things are worth the effort."

She tried to glare at him but found it impossible. "Can you heal yours?" She looked at his bloody hands nervously but he just shook his head.

"Afraid Hestia's gift can only be used to help others. Though," he flexed his hands a bit. "Maybe some rubbed off on me. They actually feel better."

She looked at him with doubt but before she could say anything, he slipped to the edge of the ledge and found his footing below. He paused and started coughing but caught himself, wincing a bit before he slipped out of sight.

With little other options, she followed his lead, following where he moved as they navigated their way down the side of the cliff.

The rest of the trip down was just as difficult as the first half. Though having a fresh start with her hands did make it a little less painful for Zoë, Percy seemed to be moving even slower though. He was careful to make sure of his grip and she could tell he was struggling.

_Damn his self-sacrificing nonsense,_ Zoë thought angrily. If he died, she would go from having a very miniscule chance to escape to zero. She made a mental note to not let him pull any more of that crap going forward. They would do this together or not at all.

As her foot finally made contact with the ground below, Zoë turned and found Percy on his hands and knees, crawling towards the fiery waters of the Phlegethon.

"Percy!" She ran to his side and tried to help him up only to find herself unable to. His body was almost dead weight as he crawled.

"Th… The water," he coughed.

She looked at the water, now just a few yards away and then back at Percy.

"What do you do?" Her voice was turning panicked as Percy went into a fit of coughing, blood leaking out of both corners of his mouth.

He looked at her and cupped his hands together.

Zoë ran towards the river and looked down at it apprehensively. She looked back at Percy as saw him unmoving, face down in the dirt.

She thrust her hands into the fire, expecting to be burned but found it cool to the touch. She hurried back as fast as she could, using her foot to flip him over. What she saw turned her blood cold.

His face was white, he made no movements and didn't seem to be breathing. Without hesitation, she brought the fire water to his lips and began to pour it into his mouth. At first, nothing happened but then he began to choke on the fire. Zoë pulled her hands back until he calmed a little and then began to pour again. She whispered encouraging words to him as he slowly and with difficulty, began to drink up the fire water.

Just as she poured the last in his throat, he rolled over on his hands and knees, coughing and spluttering but also very much alive.

"Di Immortales," he gasped weakly. "That stuff tastes like shit."

Zoë just smiled, the wave of relief filling her with ecstasy. It took him a couple minutes but Percy's colored started to return and he got to his feet, walking towards the river, the fiery light from the waters giving his face a menacing and evil look as it illuminated his large scar.

He knelt down, looking at the river warily, "I always prayed I would never have to try this stuff. This wasn't the scenario I'd imagined but it kinda tasted like I thought it would." He turned back to Zoë and nodded to the river. "I'm sorry but you have to. The nectar won't keep you going much longer."

Zoë knelt down, more apprehensive this time as without Percy's life in the balance, her mind had more time to question whether or not sticking her hands in the middle of an inferno was a good idea.

She swallowed down her doubts and scooped up some of the fire water in her hands. Before she had a chance to change her mind, she poured it down her throat.

The first sensation she felt was a soothing coolness. But that was almost immediately replaced by the overwhelming urge to vomit up what she'd just swallowed. Percy put his hand on her back, "It'll pass in a couple minutes but you have to hold in down."

She thought it would be impossible but she managed to hold the fire down. The pain was incredible and lasted for a lot longer than she hoped. But to her relief, it seemed to be working. Each breath wasn't as painful as the last until the air around them no longer seemed toxic, just stale and terrible smelling.

Percy dipped his hands in again, taking another drink from the river. He dropped to a knee, his face contorted in pain as the water burned him from the inside out. After a few minutes, he recovered and sighed tiredly as he looked at her.

"So what now?" She asked, unsure of where to go from here. The journey to the river had been an impossible task by itself, now she wasn't sure what their move would be.

Percy wiped some of the soot from his face and stood up.

"Now we follow the river. All rivers of the Underworld flow into the heart of Tartarus. I have no idea if I'm right but if I were Gaea and I'd taken control of the Doors of Death, I'd put them in a place no god or demigod would dare to go. I expect the heart of the pit is about a dangerous place as can be found down here."

Zoë rose to her feet, the effects of the fire water minimal by then. She looked at the Phlegethon again and then ahead in the direction it was flowing before nodding her head.

"To the Doors of the Death we go," she took hold of Percy's hand and they started their journey towards the very heart of Tartarus.

**A.N: Well first real chapter down. It may take me a few chapters to get into a groove for this story. I hope you'll all bear with me as I tell you the story of Percy and Zoë's final journey.**


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